Apparatus for disintegrating metal articles.



A. DE BACK.

APPARATUS FOR DISINTEGRATING METAL ARTICLES. APPLICATION FILE'D DEC-29.l9l4.

1 T 9@,%3 Patented Aug. 29, 1916.

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A. DE BACK.

APPARATUS FOR DISINTEGRATING METAL ARTICLES.

APPLICATION FILED DEC.29. 19M. Lw.,%o 'PatentedAug. 29,1916.

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ALFRED m; BACK, or nssEN-oN-THE-r UHn, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR TO GOLDSCHMIDTDETINNING COMPANY, or NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION or NEW JERSEY.

APPARATUS FOR DISINTEGRATING METAL ARTICLES.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented A11 29, 1916.

Application filed December 29, 1914. Serial No. 879,463.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED on BACK, subject of the King of Hungary, andresident of Essen-ori-the-Ruhr, in the Province of the Rhine, GermanEmpire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatusfor Disintegrating Metal Articles, Especially Enameled Iron and Steellure, of which the following is a specification. v In order to makewaste metal articles again lit for smelting it is necessary todisintegrate same and to separate therefrom any coatings such as enamelwith which they may be coated. For this purpose many devices andprocesses have already been proposed. For instance the articles haveheretofore been flattened, bent, and out between suitable cuttingrollers. These cutting rollers generally comprised steel disks arrangedin such a manner that always one steel disk entered into the spacebetween two steel disks of the other roller. By the cutting eifectobtained in this manner the articles were cut into strips which wereremoved in a suitable manner from the spaces between the disks by meansof scrapers projecting into the spaces. This manner of disintegratingthe articles has the drawback that the cutting disks lose in efliciencyby becoming blunt.

According to the present invention the articles are compressed and thenbentand stretched or pulled between rollers in such a manner that theyare torn to pieces, as distinguished from being cut to pieces. For thispurpose the material to be treated passes through rollers the surfacesof which are grooved or fluted in a direction perpendicular to the axesof the rollers.

The vertically grooved rollers are situated opposite to one another inpairs in such a manner that the projections of the one roller enter intothe grooves of the other. The material arriving between these rollerswill be forced to adapt itself to the peculiar shape of theroller-surface. It is therefore forcibly pressed into the grooves of therollers and is bound to be torn by this procedure because the materialis not elastic enough to completely fill up the grooves. 'Hand in handwith this disintegration of the waste sheet metal articles is theseparation of the enamel which may coat these articles, and it hasproved very useful to carry out these two act tions in one and the sameapparatus. Henc ",ofore in devices of this kind the enameled articleshave first, for example been flattened, then bent in undular mannerbetween longitudinally grooved or fluted rollers thereupon stretchedagain between a pair of more closely grooved or fluted rollers whichhave a greater circumferential speed and finally cut into strips in acutting device. This alternate bending and stretching again of theflattened articles in the longitudinal direction of the axis of therollers is an effective means for the removal of the enamel. This effectwill be surpassed, however, if the articles to be treated besides beingbent in the longitudinal direction of the axis of the rollers are alsobent 'ierpendicularly to this direction. This kind of bending canhowever be carried out in an excellent and simple manner by means ofthose rollers which at the same time serve for tearing up the material.If in a series of horizontally grooved or fluted rollers there are alsoincluded rollers which are vertically grooved and of differentcircumferential speeds, the material is corrugated or undulated in thedirection of the axis of the rollers as well as perpendicularly to thisdirection and straightened again so that the enamel will be completelyremoved. At the same time the material will be torn to pieces by thevertically grooved or fluted rollers.

In the accompanying drawings such a device is shown by way of example.

Figure 1 shows a front view of the device for carrying out the process;and Fig. 2 shows diagrammatically in a side elevation the arrangement ofthe series of rollers.

The articles to be disintegrated and deenameled as for instanceiron-pots, cans, and the like vessels are first split open at two placesand then bent up, whereupon they are introduced between rollers a and awhich rotate in opposite directions and which pull the articles into themachine. These rollers are in the direction of the longitudinal axisfairly deeply grooved and are mounted on the frame of the machine insuch a manner that during their movement the projections of the oneroller enter into the grooves of the other roller. The material arrivingbetween these rollers will be pressed together and at the same time bentor corrugated in an undulated Way. Under these rollers a second pair ofrollers 7) 6 is arranged being of similar shape to the first one, butshowing the difference that a greater number of grooves is provided. Thearticles leaving the first pair of rollers are seized by the secondpair, and, the circumferential speed of this pair being greater thanthat of 'the first pair, are straightened again. This difference incircumferential speed may be caused in any suitable manner. In thepresent instance, it is caused by the fact that the periphery of therollers of the second pair is greater than that of the rollers of thefirst pair, and as the rollers of each pair are rotated at the sameangular velocity, it is evident that the rollers of the second pair willhave a greater circumferential speed than those of the first pair. Assoon, however, as the articles have passed this second pair of rollers,they have again obtained a corrugated or undulated shape. Owing to thebending and stretching and the renewed bending of the articles theenamel is partially broken so that it falls off. Between these rollersthe articles are bent only in the horizontal direction. In order to bendthem also in the vertical direction a third pair of rollers c c, isprovided, the rollers of which are grooved or fluted in such a mannerthat the grooves are .arranged perpendicularly to the grooves of thepreceding rollers. Also with this pair of rollers a projection of theone roller enters into a groove of the other. As soon as the pieces ofsheet metal come between these rollers they are corrugated or undulatedin such a manner that the corrugations run in a direction perpendicularto that of the previous direction. By these means the enamel which hadnot been removed by the horizontal bending of the articles is broken.This vertical bending may, however, cause a tearing and consequently adis integration of the sheets. If the material is not so elastic that itwill be pressed into the grooves of the one roller by the projections ofthe other roller it must be torn. This, however, has only a favorableefiect for the total separation of the enamel because by this meansfurther openings are produced in vessels which may still be closed buthave been compressed from which the enamel already separated can fallout. Below the pair of rollers c c, a fourth pair of rollers (Z (Z, anda fifth pair 6 6 are arranged. In the fourth pair, the sheets comingfrom the rollers c are stretched again, and then again undulated in adirection perpendicular to their direction of travel and in the lastpair of rollers the sheets receive once more an undulated shapeperpendicular to this direction. Also in this last pair of rollers afurther tearing and thereby a further disintegration of the articles maytake place analogous to that of the pair of rollers 0 0 The articlesleaving this last pair of rollers are totally freed from enamelcoatings.

It is not absolutely necessary that the rollers should be arranged insuch a manner as shown on the drawings. It is possible for instance toarrange the series horizontally and also to vary their sequence. Furthermore the material can be passed from the bottom to the top through themachine in stead of from the top to the bottom. If the enameled articlesare introduced from below the advantage will be obtained that the cleanmaterial does not come again in contact with the detached enamel. In theother case the detached enamel falls upon the already cleaned pieces ofsheet metal so that the latter will again he soiled.

What I claim is:

1. Apparatus for treating waste enameled articles comprising at leasttwo pairs of rollers, one pair being capable of corru gating thearticles in one direction and feeding them to the second pair and thesecond pair being capable of corrugating the articles in a differentdirection, the circum ferential speed of the rollers of the second pairbeing greater than that of the rollers of the first pair.

2. Apparatus for treating waste enameled articles comprising a pluralityof pairs of rollers adapted to corrugate the articles in two directions,the rollers of certain pairs having a greater circumferential speed thanthe rollers of the preceding pair, for the purpose described.

3. Apparatus for treating waste enameled articles comprising two pairsof rollers, the rollers of the first pair being provided withcircumferential corrugating means and the rollers of the second pairbeing provided with longitudinal corrugating means, the circumferentialspeed of the rollers of the second pair being greater than that of therollers of the first pair, for the purpose described.

4. Apparatus for treating waste enameled articles comprising means forcorrugating the articles in one direction, and means for corrugating thearticles in a different direction and simultaneously exerting tension onthe articles being discharged by the firstnamed means.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses.

ALFRED on BACK. [L. s] lVitnesses:

HELEN Norma, ALBERT NUFER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

